Dummy head for supporting wigs during drying

ABSTRACT

The dummy head is a hollow body having the shape of a human head with a wide frontal opening corresponding substantially to the face portion, the body being formed by a net-type structure. The net-type structure peferably is formed by interlaced wires extending forwardly and downwardly from a zonal portion at the rear of the head. The neck portion of the body is open at the bottom, and the peripheries of the two openings of the body are formed with prongs or hooks for engaging and retaining a wig draped over the body. The body is arranged to be supported in an electric dryer by a tubular member engageable over a post or the like and having a pair of diammetrically opposite handles pivotally connected thereto.

United States Patent [1 1 Grifoni [451 July 17, 1973 [54] DUMMY HEAD FOR SUPPORTING WIGS 3,501,847 3/1970 Sanford et a1. 34/103 DURING DRYING 1,111,363 9/1914 Winch et a1. 223/24 X [76] Inventor: Raffaello Grifoni, Via

Vallombrosana 15, Pelago, Italy [22} Filed: Jan. 26, 1972 [21} Appl. No.: 220,973

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 28, 1971 Italy 9334 A/7l [52] US. Cl. 223/66 [51] Int. Cl D06c 15/00 [58] Field of Search 223/66, 68, 24, 25;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,161,293 12/1964 Sander 223/66 X 3,197,093 7/1965 Doran 223/66 3,447,726 6/1969 George 223/66 Primary Examiner-George V. Larkin Attorney-John H. McGlew et al.

[57] ABSTRACT The dummy head is a hollow body having the shape of a human head with a wide frontal opening corresponding substantially to the face portion, the body being formed by a net-type structure. The net-type structure peferably is formed by interlaced wires extending forwardly and downwardly from a zonal portion at the rear of the head. The neck portion of the body is open at the bottom, and the peripheries of the two openings of the body are formed with prongs or hooks for engaging and retaining a wig draped over the body. The body is arranged to be supportedin an electric dryer by a tubular member engageable over a post or the like and having a pair of diammetrically opposite handles pivotally connected thereto.

7 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures Patented July 17, 1973 DUMMY HEAD FOR SUPPORTING WIGS DURING DRYING FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to dummy heads for supporting wigs during drying and, more particularly, to an improved and simplified dummy head designed to facilitate rapid and uniform drying of wigs draped thereover.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION As is known, wigs are subjected to periodic washing, followed by drying. Normally, the wigs are dried by being draped on dummy heads made of relatively rigid molded plastic composition material. These heads have the advantage of being very light, but also have the serious disadvantage that they are either impermeable to air or insufficiently permeable to air. These facts make the drying of the wigs, which is usually effected under electric driers used for drying womens hair, a lengthy and difficult operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The objective of the invention is to provide a dummy head especially designed to obtain rapid and uniform drying of wigs. In accordance with the invention, this objective is obtained by the fact that the dummy head is formed as a net-type cap which is hollow and has a widely discontinuous surface.

An advantage of the invention is that it offers the possibility of letting pass, through a wig draped thereon, and with the greatest ease and with substantially no resistance, an extremely large quantity of the hot air circulated by the apparatus used for drying. An additional advantage is the great speed with which complete drying can be obtained. An ancillary advantage is that the dummy head of the invention facilitates balsamic and other treatments by seepage.

A final advantage is the possibility of removing all the small impurities present in the hair of the wig, and which cannot be removed merely by washing.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved dummy head for drying wigs.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a dummy head which especially facilitates rapid and unifonn drying of wigs.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a dummy head which is simple in' construction and readily adaptable to the shape of the wig draped thereover.

For an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference is made to the following description of a typical embodiment thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the Drawing:

FIG. 1 is a right side elevation view ofa dummy head embodying the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a frong elevation view of the dummy head.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Essentially, the dummy head of the present invention comprises a cap formed by suitably interlacing a numbcr of wires, such as galvanized iron wires, having a diameter such that they are easily bendable, to shape a structure in the form of a human head and which has a large frontal opening corresponding substantially to the face portion. This structure offers a good resistance to external compressive forces. The manner of interlacing the wires may be selected as desired.

By way of example, and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a number of wires are bent at their mid portions so as to reduce their effective length to one-half, and the bights of the bent wires are tied together, with a coplanar relation of the wires, at a position corresponding to an occipital zone 1 of the cap or dummy head. The two legs of each wire then constitute a pair of wires 2 extending radially outwardly from the occipital zone I. Preferably, the pairs of wires 2 are arranged so as to radiate at equal angular distances from each other, and are held in such relation by one or more rows of wires forming a circle 3, each wire of these rows being wrapped around each pair 2 of wires.

From the circle 3, the wires 4 of each pair 2 extend outwardly at an angle of approximately and are prolonged to the extremity of the cap which is the front peripheral edge 5 which delimits or defines the frontal opening of the cap. Those wires not extending to the peripheral edge 5 of the frontal opening of the cap extend downwardly to the lower peripheral edge 6 defining the base of the cap or what may be termed a neck" opening. Each wire 4, in its extent from circle 3 to the peripheral edge 5 or the peripheral edge 6, intersects several wires 4 of other pairs 2, and is passed alternately over and under the intersecting wires. Thereby, each wire forms, with an intersecting wire, two obtuse angles and two acute angles, with the result of forming a large mesh net having openings therein which are substantially rhombic in form.

Peripheral edge 5 is provided with a number of metallic points 12 which project outwardly for the purpose of anchoring the upper part of the wig. On the lower part of the dummy head, adjacent the peripheral edge 6 defining the neck opening, there are several bracket type flexible arms 7 having arcuately bent ends to form downwardly opening hooks, and these are for the purpose of engaging the network of the wig so as to hold the wig effectively stretched over the dummy head. These hooks or arms 7 extend from a support or base 7' which may be secured to peripheral edge 6 adjacent the frontal opening of the dummy head.

The base of the dummy head is secured, preferably integrally, with a vertical tubular support 8 extending downwardly therefrom and positioned forwardly of the peripheral edge 6. The tubular support 8 is designed to be mounted on a suitable external support, which has not been shown. The base 8 may be connected with the dummy head by a bracket or the like 8', which preferably extends transversely of the dummy head outwardly of the frontal opening defined by the peripheral edge 5. A pair of angularly bent arms 9 have their ends pivotally connected to bracket 8' at the pivots l0. Arms 9 include substantially horizontal portions from the outer ends of which vertical portions extend upwardly, as best seen in FIG. 2, and the arms extend in opposed directions from the bracket 10. The upper ends of the vertical legs of the arms 9 are preferably bent outwardly at substantially right angles and, if desired, are covered with rubber or the like as indicated at II. In their erected position, as illustrated in FIG. 2, arms 9 serve to support the dummy head in an electric dryer.

While the dummy head has been described, by way of example, as being formed by interlaced and intersecting wires, alternatively it could be formed, for example, of molded plastic composition material which is molded in the form of a net-type structure.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.

What is claimed is:

1. A dummy head, for supporting wigs during drying, comprising a hollow body having the shape of a human head with a wide frontal opening corresponding substantially to the face portion; said hollow body being formed by a net-type structure; said net-type structure being formed of a plurality of bendable wires intersecting each other to define relatively large rhombic openings, and bent to the shape of a human head with said wide frontal opening corresponding to the face portion; each of said wires having a bend at its mid-point forming a bight and a pair of half length wires extending from the bight; and means tying said wires together at their bights at a zone corresponding to the occipital zone of the dummy head with the two half lengths of each wire extending as a pair of wires radially from said occipital zone.

-2. A dummy head, for supporting wigs during drying, as claimed in claim 1, in which those portions of said wires in said occipital zone are substantially coplanar; the pairs of half length wires extending from said occipital zone radially at substantially equal angular spacings from each other.

3. A dummy head, for supporting wigs during drying, as claimed in claim 2, including a wire ring spaced radially from said occipital zone; and means tying said wiring to each pair of wires extending from said occipital zone to maintain the pairs of wires in said equally angularly spaced relation.

4. A dummy head, for supporting wigs during drying, as claimed in claim 3, in which-the two wires of each pair diverge from each other outwardly of said wire ring at substantially right angles to each other; the diverging wires of each pair intersecting diverging wires of other pairs and passing alternately above and below the intersected wires.

5. A dummy head, for supporting wigs during drying, as claimed in claim 4, in which some of said wires terminate at the peripheral edge of said frontal opening and others of said wires terminate at the peripheral edge of a neck opening of said dummy head and which intersects said frontal opening; and means interconnecting the ends of said wires at said openings to form said peripheral edges of said openings.

6. A dummy head, for supporting wigs during drying, comprising a hollow body having the shape of a human head with a wide frontal opening corresponding substantially to the face portion; said hollow body being formed by a net-type structure; said structure including a base portion having an opening corresponding substantially to the neck portion and merging with said frontal opening; a vertically oriented relatively elongated tubular support secured to said base portion and adopted to be mounted on a suitable external support; an elongated bracket extending transversely of the base of said dummy head laterally and symmetrically relative to said tubular support; and a pair of arms pivoted to said bracket and extending in opposite directions therefrom; said arms being bent at right angles to define first legs pivoted at their free ends to said bracket and second legs bent at right angles from said first legs and having free ends bent outwardly at right angles thereto; said arms being adopted to support said dummy head inside an electric hair dryer.

7. A dummy head, for supporting wigs during drying, as claimed in claim 6, in which the outwardly bent free ends of said second legs are covered with material having a high coefficient of friction. 

1. A dummy head, for supporting wigs during drying, comprising a hollow body having the shape of a human head with a wide frontal opening corresponding substantially to the face portion; said hollow body being formed by a net-type structure; said nettype structure being formed of a plurality of bendable wires intersecting each other to define relatively large rhombic openings, and bent to the shape of a human head with said wide frontal opening corresponding to the face portion; each of said wires having a bend at its mid-point forming a bight and a pair of half length wires extending from the bight; and means tying said wires together at their bights at a zone corresponding to the occipital zone of the dummy head with the two half lengths of each wire extending as a pair of wires radially from said occipital zone.
 2. A dummy head, for supporting wigs during drying, as claimed in claim 1, in which those portions of said wires in said occipital zone are substantially coplanar; the pairs of half length wires extending from said occipital zone radially at substantially equal angular spacings from each other.
 3. A dummy head, for supporting wigs during drying, as claimed in claim 2, including a wire ring spaced radially from said occipital zone; and means tying said wiring to each pair of wires extending from said occipital zone to maintain the pairs of wires in said equally angularly spaced relation.
 4. A dummy head, for supporting wigs during drying, as claimed in claim 3, in which the two wires of each pair diverge from each other outwardly of said wire ring at substantially right angles to each other; the diverging wires of each pair intersecting diverging wires of other pairs and passing alternately above and below the intersected wires.
 5. A dummy head, for supporting wigs during drying, as claimed in claim 4, in which some of said wires terminate at the peripheral edge of said frontal opening and others of said wires terminate at the peripheral edge of a ''''neck'''' opening of said dummy head and which intersects said frontal opening; and means interconnecting the ends of said wires at said openings to form said peripheral edges of said openings.
 6. A dummy head, for supporting wigs during drying, comprising a hollow body having the shape of a human head with a wide frontal opening corresponding substantially to the face portion; said hollow body being formed by a net-type structure; said structure including a base portion having an opening corresponding substantially to the neck portion and merging with said frontal opening; a vertically oriented relatively elongated tubular support secured to said base portion and adopted to be mounted on a suitable external support; an elongated bracket extending transversely of the base of said dummy head laterally and symmetrically relative to said tubular support; and a pair of arms pivoted to said bracket and extending in opposite directions therefrom; said arms being bent at right angles to define first legs pivoted at their free ends to said bracket and second legs bent at right angles from said first legs and having free ends bent outwardly at right angles thereto; said arms being adopted to support said dummy head inside an electric hair dryer.
 7. A dummy head, for supporting wigs during drying, as claimed in claim 6, in which the outwardly bent free ends of said second legs are covered with material having a high coefficient of friction. 